Across the spectrum, voters are restless. On the right, moderate GOP House incumbents are contending with an angry former president who wants to purify the party of people who have crossed him. Democratic primary voters are furious over the possible end of Roe v. Wade. And voters of all stripes are anxious about everything from the cost of gas and groceries to infant formula shortages and instability abroad.
This is not a pro-incumbent mood. Combine that with redistricting — which is forcing new and old members alike to win over voters — and it's a recipe for the most incumbents losing primaries in at least a decade. In May alone, at least four could lose.
On Tuesday, moderate GOP Rep. David McKinley, who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, was the first to be ousted in a redistricting showdown. It wasn't surprising that Trump-endorsed GOP Rep. Alex Mooney (WV-02) prevailed - after all, it's West Virginia. But it was the size of Mooney's margin — 19 points - that should worry other GOP incumbents who can be tagged as insufficiently
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